Standing Tall for Co-ops
One name we kept hearing and reading while doing research for Radical Roots was Kris Olsen. Kris was a dedicated co-op activist who popped up all over our story: befriending Moe Burton while helping out the Bryant-Central Co-op, being physically thrown out of Seward Co-op by the CO (they needed a bunch of guys - Kris was very tall!)...
"A healthy, fair and just food system is more than just food on a plate"
Echoes of the Co-op Wars in the Occupy Movement
In this interview for Radical Roots from 2013, ex-Cooperative Organization (CO) member Lynette Malles reflects on the divisions within the Twin Cities Occupy movement that resemble those in the early co-op movement, and how Occupy Homes flirted with the techniques that did so much damage when practiced by the CO...
The C.O.: The Cult that Controlled Everything from Sex to Farts(?!)
Another Side of the Peoples Warehouse Takeover
Earlier today we posted an excerpt of our interview with Gary Cunningham that included his description of what it was like to be part of the Co-op Organization’s (CO) takeover of the Peoples’ Warehouse in May of 1975. Here’s an excerpt from our interview with Ken Logsdon about what it was like to be one of the people that the CO kicked out.
Minneapolis Mayor's Husband Breaks Marxist's Arm Defending His Co-op in Street Brawl!
Co-op War I: Stalin vs. the Finnish-Americans
The “Co-op Wars” story which we are covering in Radical Roots had an interesting parallel in the 1920s among the first wave of food co-ops in Northern Minnesota, in which another Communist autocrat tried to take over the co-ops for his own purposes. Except this was no secret leader of a tiny sect, this was Joseph Stalin himself...
Mao in the Co-ops
Interviewing many co-op founders, it has been striking that so many young radicals of the time were so inspired by Mao and the Chinese revolution. While the glum bureaucracy of the Soviet Union was hardly compelling, the apparent energy of the Chinese revolution, along with the Marxist revolutions throughout the Third World, seemed like a viable alternative to American capitalism and imperialism...
Food Wars and Co-op Wars
In 2013 TPT’s Daniel Pierce Bergin produced a companion program to Dave Kenney and Thomas Saylor’s book Minnesota in the 70s. It contained a six minute segment on the Co-op Wars, featuring some great film and photos of the co-ops in the mid-70s, including part of an interview with Annie Young (one of our interviewees)...